Sunday evening in Ho Chi Minh City. At first it sounds like the beginning of "Apocalypse Now," with the growling whumf-whumf of American helicopters prowling across the paddy fields, reconning raw material for the ultimate body count. But ...

THE cruise was a dream trip -- nine days on a 116-passenger ship sailing on the South China Sea from Hanoi to Saigon. I eagerly signed on. However, since all the cabins were doubles, as an unattached female I was told I must share or be slapped wi...